Finding Asylum Records in Ontario Canada

Pierre asked Olive Tree Genealogy about insane asylum files in Ontario.

I have reason to believe that a great aunt of mine ended up in the Penetanguishene Asylum for the criminally insane and died there in December 1968.

I would like to verify this fact first before looking into why she was there in the first place.Her name was xxx [Lorine's note: I have removed her name for privacy reasons]. Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Hi Pierre,

You would be better to request your aunt's complete medical file from Penetanguishene. If she died while an inmate her death information will be found there. The cemetery does not have marked graves, instead there are numbers which relate to the number assigned to each patient.

You can request her file at Ontario Archives or check if the microfilmed records are available to the public. See the page on available Medical Records of Ontario at Olive Tree Genealogy website. There is a complete list of what files for different institutions have survived. Penetanguishene has many.

The files do not generally cost much to obtain. I submitted my request for my husband's grandfather's sister's files directly to Ontario Archives with a FOI (Freedom of Information) form. It was very easy and I received almost 100 pages of her records. Some was redacted by the Archivist as it was considered sensitive information. But most of it was intact.